Apparatus for treating coffee



Aug. 19, 1930. R. D. GILMORE APPARATUS FOR TREATING COFFEE Filed Aug. 18, 1927 1520p flow 2p, 6 6% Patented Aug. 19 1930 ROBERT: D, GILMORE, or ivnwaoiv, MASSACHUSETTS APPARATIIS 1301B REA IN COFFEE I lipplicatio'n filed A l a 18, 1e27, SerialNb. 213,952.]

' It has been the'experience ofthose having 'to do with lunch rooms and' th'elike, that if coffee, after having been made, is permitted to stand in the urn, particularly whenkept hot, its flavor and colon-rapidly deteriorate, the coffee becoming bitter anaemia For'this reason, it has been customaryito' make the coffee in small quantities andrelatively 'oftea which, of course, increases the time and 1e labornecessarily expended in its preparation Eventhen, there is often unavoidable waste due to and consequently, adds to its cost.

deterioration, 7

p The present invention for its object the avoidance of thisdeterio'ration' so that the coffee canbe madein l'argequantities and less often without impairing its quality.'

Extensive investigation'h'as led me to the belief that deterioration of the coffee, after is has been made up, is largely, if not Wholly,

due to oxidationof the tannins which the coffee contains, such oxidation being promoted when the coffee is-maintained hot, due to the vaporization and condensationin intimate contact with the air thereabove in the urn which of course increases in amount as the coffee is crawn off for use. -VVhether or not this is the correct reason, I have discovered that the deterioration may be prevented, or at least very greatly retarded, by preventing the coffee, after it has been made up, from coming into contact with air. may be done quite readily even when the coffee is left in the urn, and when the urn 355: is not completely filled, as for example, by 7 covering the surface of the coffee with any suitable medium which will float thereon so as to descend with the cofiee as the latter is drawn off asrequired, so that the body of coflee is maintained out of contact with air as long as any coffee remains in the urn.

For a more complete understanding of this invention, reference may be had to the. ac- ,f companying drawings in which Figure 1 shows one type of urn commonly employed for making cofieeand Figure 2 is an enlarged, vertical section of the same.

Referring to these drawings, it will be,

seen that the urn comprises a double walled or jacketed receptacle, having inner and This outer-{wall portions landQ, and'bases 3 and 4-,' 'respectively, these-walls and bases confinin'g between them a jacket for containing hot water; as at 5; The upper end of the jacket is closed off as by means of the sub- 7 stanti'ally conical wall 6 to provide" an enlarged upper portion for the-inner container which may" be covered bya suitable top or 7 cover 7 bridging the wateracket' portion. At -8 is shown a sight-glass" to indicate the 0 level of water in the waterjacket, and at 9 is indicated a similar glass to indicate the level of coffee within the, inner container,- Extending through the base 3 ofthe inner- 'containeris a pipe" 10 'leading'to a drawoff valve 11 bywhich the' coffee may be drawn off as required. --The u rn may be supported on 'the fe'et 12 and may be heated in any sui-t- I able manner, asfor example, bymeansf-ofa "flame positioned-beneath the base 1 V: -"So-"fa r", the apparat'us is the conventional .form of coffee urn. *When-thefcofiee is to be adeythe ground 'co'ffeejbeans are placed in a'suitablestrainer',orbasket,which is letdown into the -hotfw'a'ter the'inne'r receptacle for a suiiicife'nt length of timetof prepare thecoff'ee' o'f' the' desired strength; The'strainer and the cofiee grounds maythen' be removed. It

is aftthispoint'tliatthe method-of this inven 'tion is brought into operation; The body ofL a coffee within the inne'r'receptacleis covered v with some agent or medium which prevents its contact with the air in the receptacle there above. For example, 'a' float may be placed on t'he surface o'f-the coflee'so as to' descend with this surfaceas't'he coif'e'e'is drawn off, this float' being so formed as to cover sub-7" stantially the'-entire 'surface of the coffee so as' to maintain it out ofcontact with he air above:

-This'float may be made in any'desiredmanner and of anyfsuitable material, a'sfor example, ofmetal'inhollow form, or as asolid block of cork or similar materiall- In place of the rigid fi'o'at, suitable liquid may be used such as an" oil, or .paraflin wax which will fo'rm acoa-ti'ng-on thesurface' of thecoffee and descend with this surface as the coffee is drawn off. Preferably, however, a float of solid materialfiis employed asthis W 'l i Mi -weescannot in any way contaminate the coffee or clog the draw-off valve or pipe when the coffee has been removed.

In many cases, and as shown in Fig. 2, it will be found that the side walls of the coffee-containing receptacle slope downwardly in whichc'ase, of course, it would be impossible to use a float of sufliciently large diameter to substantially completely cover the coffee when there is a large amount of coffee in the urn as such a float would be too large to pass downwardly into the more constricted lower portion of the receptacle. Where this is the case, the float 25 may be made as shown in Figure 2 of a diameter substantially equal to thesmallest diameter of the coffee recep tacle. It may be surrounded bya series of rings 26, 27' and 28 nesting in each other in such a way that when all the rings are in place the floatand rings are of suflicient diam:

eter to'closely engage the wall of the coffee receptacle at its upper portion, and as the float descends these rings are successively caught and held by-the sides of the receptacle,

permitting the next smaller ring and the float to descend together to such a point that the next smaller ring is also held bywthe receptacle walls. The positions in which the rings 26 and 28 areleft behind as thefloat descends are shown in dotted lines in Figure 2. As'shown, the rings may each be provided with an inwardly extending flange 30 at its upper end which is engaged by the float or the next smaller ring as the float is moved upwardly in the receptacle so that thercollecting and depositing of the rings 7 as the float moves up or down is done auto- 7 matically. With this arrangement, it can be seen that substantially the entire surface of the'cofli'ee is covered at any level of coffee in the receptacle. As it is usual practice to make the base of the coflee receptacle downwardly dished the lower, face of the float may be similarly formed so that it may descend and finally rest on this base when all the coifee has been removed from the urn. Thus the coffee is excluded and protected from access of air as long as it remains in'the urn. If desiredthis float may be provided with a book 21 at its upper end by which it maybe lifted in removing it or replacing it in the coffee receptacle.

While this invention has been described with reference to the making of coffee in large quantities, as for lunch room use,,it.

may equally well be applied to the making of coffee for home use in relatively small quantities, as in a coffee pot, and with similarly good results.

Having thus described the embodiments of this invention, it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modiflcationsmay be made therein without departing from its spirit or scope as defined by .the appended claims. a y

I claim:

1. The combination with a coffee making receptacle tapering downwardly, of a float of substantially the cross sectional area of said receptacle at its lower end, and a series of rings arranged to nest one within the other and surrounding said float, said rings being adapted to be successively retained by the walls of said receptacle at diflerent elevations as said float descends, said rings and next within or the float, whereby said rings may be successively retained by the walls of said receptacle at different elevations as the float descends and are successively picked up from their retained positions as the float rises to move upwardly therewith, said rings and float together covering substantially the entire surface of a body of coifee within said receptacle supporting said float.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature. 7

ROBERT D. GILMORE. 

